Sanders writes: "Today, for example, nearly half of the children of Wal-Mart associates receive Medicaid benefits or are uninsured. In several states, Wal-Mart has the highest percentage of employees receiving food stamps."
Sen. Bernie Sanders. (photo: Getty Images)
Bernie Sanders: People Can't Survive on $7.25 an Hour
01 January 14
ith minimum wages set to go up on New Year's Day in Vermont and 12 other states, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today renewed his call for an increase in the federal minimum wage.
"States and communities are not waiting for Congress to raise the minimum wage. They are doing the right thing because the simple truth is that working people cannot survive on the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, or $8 an hour or $9 an hour. If people work 40 hours a week, they deserve not to live in dire poverty," Sanders said.
Wage increases at the state and local level are occurring in Vermont and elsewhere at a time of growing income inequality throughout the United States. In the last several years, 95 percent of all new income went to the top 1 percent. "We need to raise the minimum wage to at least $10.10 an hour," said Sanders. "That's why I cosponsored legislation which will soon be on the Senate floor."
Citing an Economic Policy Institute study, Sanders said that boosting the federal minimum wage would generate 85,000 new jobs and increase the take-home pay of Americans by some $35 billion. Sanders also noted that nearly 90 percent of Americans who would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage are adults over the age of 20.
Raising the minimum wage also could lower the federal government deficit. Today, for example, nearly half of the children of Wal-Mart associates receive Medicaid benefits or are uninsured. In several states, Wal-Mart has the highest percentage of employees receiving food stamps. "American taxpayers should not have to subsidize the low wages at Wal-Mart to make the store's owners, already the richest family in America, even richer," Sanders said.
Some Republicans in Congress not only oppose raising the minimum wage but want to scrap the minimum wage law altogether. Overwhelming numbers of Americans disagree. A new ABC/Washington Post poll showed that two-thirds of Americans support raising the minimum wage. Sixty-four percent of independents and even 57 percent of Republicans favor increasing the minimum wage, according to a recent CBS News poll.
The real value of the federal minimum wage has fallen by more than 30 percent since 1968. If the minimum wage had kept up with inflation, it would be more than $10.70 per hour today.
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WalMart buys mens under ware from a Saudi owned factory in Ethiopia that makes 5000 pairs per day. If you shop at Walmart you promote outsourcing.
That would be true if the data supported what you've been told about "The illegal problem."
I'd look around you first and see just what jobs they're getting.
And the money their having a false SS# puts into the OASI fund without getting anything for it.
THEN look up that data - and not on Fox or some Industry or RW think tank's website.
And now we have the TPP and its give-aways to corporations. Not only will we have corporate personhood to deal with. We will have corporate bigger than nationhood when they can overturn our health and labor laws in their phony tribunals.
So heads up, folks. We have everything to lose. Call your senators and your congressperson and tell them to vote against FAST TRACK, which is where they will slip this in under the rug without our being able to read the text until it's too late -- if then.
There is a free number to call the congressional switchboard. 1-866-338-1015 Ask the operator to connect you to their office.
What a load of unsubstantiated , racist, isolationist cobblers.
Next time you eat at Taco Bell or another of the appalling faux-Mexican chains that serve shit-meat and slave-labor-pic ked veg' in Tacos or Burritos (I never actually had a Burrito over the length or breadth of Mexico), ask who picks their tomatoes, lettuce, beans for their Frijoles and the other goop you get as filling, whilst being directly sprayed with the same crop-dusted insecticides you will enjoy with your plate of slops!
Bet they won't tell you -but then their up-front drive-through or counter employee is likely gettin' slave pay, no benefits, no overtime or paid time off too, so why should they care?!
They are equal-oppoprtun ity whip-hands and robber barons!
That only works if you can AFFORD to shop elsewere.
I wonder if you realize how few can.
Unfortunately the 30 hour workweek has become thee standard for many low wage workers thanks the Obamacare, and the desire of employers to avoid providing insurance. This is part of the reason that unemployment statistics have been improving. If an employer needs 120 hours of coverage he can hire three people and pay for their insurance, or hire four and not have to pay.
Read The Meritocracy Myth.
Then take a look at today's job market in America - there isn't one.
You say you have a job? Great.
But look into ALL the reasons WHY.
Then ask: "For how long?"
You never did in y'r few incursions into RSN!
Actually, I'll offer you a challenge.
Work as many hours as the slave masters will give you at a vegetable picking job in any and all weathers whilst being sprayed with insecticide from a crop-duster (I'm not making this up), repetitive drudgery in a fast food prep-depot or kitchen, part of a packaging assembly line under unrealistic, high-pressure delivery dates (as in Amazon) or as a disposable, unacknowledged drone jokingly entitled "associates" (except for publicity stunts) in Walmart, get to know your co-workers and their education, former professional and life histories and get back to me afterwards.
Since you last crawled out from under y'r isolationist rock, there has been established an emerging class since 2008 called officially (at least in Oregon) the "New Poor" who have had their expensive educations, experience and usefulness ripped out from under them by the same criminals you would no doubt defend as "doing Gods work" (their phrase, not mine) as Wall Street speculators and exploitative bankers in the "Land of the Free (if you can afford it)".
Please morph' back to y'r blinkered li'l ol' Norman Rockwell world but don't pollute this forum with it unless you have something constructive to add.
Happy Hogmanay (New Year), if you are capable of it.
For productivity, and thus company income, to increase greatly as it has been doing for the past three decades and pay not to follow suit is a "crime." That's why a guaranteed profit sharing program is more important than an increase in the minimum wage. That wage should be set at $12 an hour and all profit after that is to be divided between the owners and the workers. As productivity goes up, income and profit for the company goes up, so workers pay would also go up.
Anything less is unacceptable.
But their medical (copay, drugs etc.) expenses are even higher.
Check out the Italian solution, which gives a LUMP SUM equivalent to (I forget how many months of) unemployment insurance, on the condition that they use it to start a business -they also offer professional guidance for the set-up.
Now THAT'S a creative solution we could surely all get behind in reducing unemployment, encouraging enterprise and creativity in so many directions, helping the economy and giving individuals a goal and sense of self-worth.
But perhaps that's the LAST thing the current crop of Plutocrats want, innit??!!
Joe, your grammar is correct, but your thinking is hopelessly flawed, when you say the person showing up for work is claiming hardship. Do you know the meaning of "non sequitur"? What preparation are you talking about, in the case of a bottom rung job? What are you conserving, sir? Your dividend payment? Or, possibly, you are on the rung of the ladder just above the bottom guy. Well, in that case, you'd benefit proportionately . That's why I suspect you're not working on that 2nd rung of the ladder after all.
Don't start with this communism shit. It has nothing to do with communism. This is about people in this country being paid in order to keep up with the cost of living. It's atrocious that this nation has so many people in this situation.
However, raising the minimum wage is not a solution to the problem of lack of job opportunity in our country. We have a situation in which about 40% of the people who are working at all are working part time for minimum wage, mostly for Walmart and fast food companies like MacDonald's. This is not a healthy economic scenario for America. We not only need to raise the minimum wage, gradually, a little every few years to keep up with cost of living, but we need to drastically change the shape of business in the United States so that there are more kinds of jobs available, more employers, more businesses, more local businesses, more distributed ownership of businesses and market share. The consolidation of retail business, the consolidation of banking business, the consolidation of media ownership, the consolidation of wealth and ownership in our country is immoral. We've passed anti trust laws before to give the public a chance in the business world. We passed labor laws and created unions to give the public a chance as employees. Then all those protections got lost, at least meaningfully lost. We need new forms of those laws for our current situation, and to enforce them.
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